We’re back from a long relaxing holiday to Tasmania. We caught a quick flight from Melbourne and landed in Launceston in under an hour.
We escaped Melbourne just in time. The day we left was the hottest day *ever* on record in Melbourne. It was so hot, just walking our bags from our place to the train station seemed comparable to crossing the Sahara. The temperatures got to 46.4C that day! That is 115.5F. The previous high was 45.7C set in 1939.
Also as we left, bush fires ravaged Victoria. I’m sure lots of you have seen them on the news or read about them online. There are still fires going on all over the state, but it seems the worst of them have passed. None were in our area (by the bay), but some really bad ones were about 45 minutes to an hour north of here. A couple of small towns were completely destroyed – like every house was reduced to rubble – with lots of casualties. One town that was completely wiped out was Marysville, which we stayed at a few months ago with Beth’s mom. As we were leaving Melbourne on the plane we were above the cloud line, but below the cloud line all you could see was brown/red dust clouds. We could only guess that it was from the fires burning around Victoria. I have a photo of that on my phone I will see if I can dig up.
After landing in Launceston (Central-North Tasmania), we basically toured the island clockwise. More about that later.
Lovely photo. I found Hobart on the map and had wondered if you traveled by plane or ship. I’ll be interested in reading what you did in Tasmania and look forward to seeing the photos from your island tour.
Really enjoyed all your text/descriptions. Thank you! Glad you both are safe. What tragedies with the fires. Something seems it was bound to happen with 115 degrees–wow!!! Like crossing the Sahara, eh? I would have been *miserable* (if I had survived!) XOXOX
5 Comments »
Comment by josh — February 17, 2009 @ 10:15 am
We’re back from a long relaxing holiday to Tasmania. We caught a quick flight from Melbourne and landed in Launceston in under an hour.
We escaped Melbourne just in time. The day we left was the hottest day *ever* on record in Melbourne. It was so hot, just walking our bags from our place to the train station seemed comparable to crossing the Sahara. The temperatures got to 46.4C that day! That is 115.5F. The previous high was 45.7C set in 1939.
Also as we left, bush fires ravaged Victoria. I’m sure lots of you have seen them on the news or read about them online. There are still fires going on all over the state, but it seems the worst of them have passed. None were in our area (by the bay), but some really bad ones were about 45 minutes to an hour north of here. A couple of small towns were completely destroyed – like every house was reduced to rubble – with lots of casualties. One town that was completely wiped out was Marysville, which we stayed at a few months ago with Beth’s mom. As we were leaving Melbourne on the plane we were above the cloud line, but below the cloud line all you could see was brown/red dust clouds. We could only guess that it was from the fires burning around Victoria. I have a photo of that on my phone I will see if I can dig up.
After landing in Launceston (Central-North Tasmania), we basically toured the island clockwise. More about that later.
Comment by dadman — February 17, 2009 @ 10:36 pm
I’m excited to hear about Tasmania! Sounds like you picked a good time to get out of town. So sad about all the fires and tragedy.
Comment by Clara — February 19, 2009 @ 12:58 pm
Lovely photo. I found Hobart on the map and had wondered if you traveled by plane or ship. I’ll be interested in reading what you did in Tasmania and look forward to seeing the photos from your island tour.
Comment by Peg — February 20, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
Really enjoyed all your text/descriptions. Thank you! Glad you both are safe. What tragedies with the fires. Something seems it was bound to happen with 115 degrees–wow!!! Like crossing the Sahara, eh? I would have been *miserable* (if I had survived!) XOXOX
Comment by Peg — February 20, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
Cool textures in the photo–in the water ripples and in the grass that looks like . . . brushed fur.
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